Fifty-six per cent of the full-time or self-employed respondents to a survey conducted for Adecco Group North America, which provides temporary and permanent employment and placement, said they would switch careers.

Adecco also found 78 per cent of all respondents to the survey said they loved what they do as much or more than they did a year ago.

The online survey was conducted among 2,158 US adults, two-thirds of whom were employed full- or part-time or self-employed. The balance included unemployed workers, retirees, students and unpaid homemakers.

A huge majority - 90 per cent - said their confidence in their companies' executive teams had been negatively affected by the current economic situation.

Those with feelings of appreciation for having a job outnumbered those who dreaded starting a new work week by 41 percent to 9 per cent, while 26 per cent said they felt indifferent.

Women were more appreciative of having a job at the start of the work week than were men, 46 per cent to 38 per cent.

The random online survey was conducted for Adecco by Harris Interactive Feb 3 to 5, The research was not based on probability samples and thus no estimates of theoretical sampling error could be calculated, Adecco said. -- REUTERS